Coach urges players to have Chong Wei's mentality

National women’s singles head coach Tey Seu Bock wants his players to take after national No 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei in various aspects, especially in terms of having the determination and mental strength of a champion. (pix by KHAIRULL AZRY BIDIN)

KUALA LUMPUR: National women’s singles head coach Tey Seu Bock wants his players to take after national No 1 Datuk Lee Chong Wei in various aspects, especially in terms of having the determination and mental strength of a champion.

The former men’s singles coach said even though Chong Wei is in the twilight of his career at 35 years old, the former World No 1 is still able to perform at the highest level.

“The level of confidence and self-belief of our players is what we need to work on improving for our women’s players.

“The question is if Chong Wei can do it then why can’t the others do it too? Actually there is nothing that can’t be done or achieved.

“Our players need to have positive thinking. There’s no need to compare our players to those from other countries as we have our very own role model to look up to in Chong Wei,” he said.

Despite being satisfied with the performances and achievements of our country’s women’s singles shuttlers such as Goh Jin Wei who won gold at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017), Seu Bock is adamant his charges’ mental strength is not at par with that of the world’s top players, and he plans on working on this so that they can better their performance and fulfill their potential of being world beaters.

Meanwhile, apart from Jin Wei, Seu Bock is also satisfied with Soniia Cheah, who lost in the Sea Games women’s singles final to Jin Wei.

“Her performance has improved compared to before, but from my observations she still has some way to go to reach her peak, and I feel she lost to Jin Wei because she wasn’t mentally strong enough,” he said.